the lime green door

1.5.09 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Texas Longhorns

I definitely don't want to talk about it...1-8-09. 11:30 p.m.

       

It happens tonight!  

GO BUCKEYES!!! 

Texas will be a hard team to beat, but have at it!  I will be glued to the TV starting at kick-off at 8:20 p.m. EST!

ARRGGHHH....having another of "those" days...I HATE stressing over money!

I am so frustrated...I have a right to be paid---correct?  Not being paid for the last month is the tip of the iceberg of my financial stress right now.  The company I work for, a builder of high end homes, has a homeowner that has issues with high insurance costs and is feeling that his lender is leading him down a path of fees, commissions, and interest. Can't blame the guy---however, it has caused our draw to be seriously late, therefore no paycheck!

My DH has been laid off work for 7 weeks out of the last 12, and that too, sucks!  We have been dipping into our savings to pay for everyday stuff--house payments, car payments, gas...which totally ticks off my DH, because there were plans for those funds...

We are being frugual, but I feel so guilty about going to Chicago at the end of the week because of it.  We should not be taking "vacations" during a time of slow pays, and in my case--no pay!

I have been working throughout all of this non-payment too.  That sucks even more. I have been practically yelled at by every family member I have about working for no pay.  (obviously they are against it, and are very upset that I have been working for my employer without being paid). I have not filed for unemployment yet, as I keep thinking that everyday, our draw should be coming along.

I have been selling off things on ebay, will have a nice huge garage sale in August, am for hire for cleaning or dog sitting, have been making scrapbook layouts and mini albums to sell, all to help out the household.

I HATE STRESSING OVER MONEY...we have taken measures to be less cash strapped in the last 6-7 years, however there are those times like these that it makes it hard not to dislike people or circumstances.

With both of us being in the construction industry, we both have huge fears of being out of work at the same time.  We have the same complaint and problems that everyone else has--much higher gas costs, higher grocery bills, higher utilities, and all with NO increase in pay, It scares the heck out of me...

Boycotting Clothing Manufacturers...Short Shirts...and not on purpose!

I am officially boycotting clothing manufacturers!  I am SO TIRED of purchasing shirts, having them fit perfectly, and then washing them once, and they shrink up a good 6" making them belly or short shirts!  I SO HATE THIS!!!!  Yesterday, for about two hours, I was doing laundry and cleaning up the laundry room, and I ended up packing up 4 of the 20 gallon trash bags full of clothing that shrunk--mostly shirts!

I think that when I do start buying again, if this happens I will take the clothing right back to the store...i cannot tell you how many times that I have purchased cute t-shirts and the slightly stretch sleeveless blouses from Target, Wal-Mart, Macy's, Land's End, or JC Penny's to have them shrink the first time I wash them--even in cold water and hanging them out to dry--so they are no longer wearable.

I probably packed up a good 30 shirts last night, and am going back into the trenches this morning to do it again. Maybe this is telling me I have too many clothes (I do and am paring down) but as I was packing up, my feather's were ruffled at all the cute clothes that I have purchased in the last 6 months that no longer fit because they are now shrunk to the size that you can see a good portion of your belly, and that is the last thing that I want to be doing!!!

Watch out clohting manufacturers....I am not going to be taking this any longer!!! 

(no, none of these are my belly!!!)

Quizzes & emails that "Out" the Selfish People

I was asked to do a "survey" and comment on a "friend"...You know...one of those forwarded emails where you "take a test" or put your answers after a series of questions...

I rarely ever do those, mostly because they are a waste of my time, and partly because a lot of them carry viruses on the computers, so I end up deleting anything that gets forwarded.

This one was different, and I was surprised at what first came to mind when I read it.  I did not answer the email, but had some very strong feelings about it...like wanting to tell this person, "BECAREFUL OF WHAT YOU SEND AND ASK, SOMEONE JUST MIGHT TELL YOU THE TRUTH". 

There is this person in my life, I will not mention who this person is, who sent me one of those quizzes where we were supposed to list the first 5 things that came to mind about that "friend".

Now this is going to sound so horrible and mean (I did NOT send this back), however the first five things that came to mind were:

• SELFISH and SELF-CENTERED (horribly and daily)
• DISHONEST (lies constantly to family and friends)
• MANIPULATIVE (whines, pouts, and stomps to get what they want, coerces others to follow bad advice and example)
• IRRESPONSIBLE (with everything--people, feelings, money, business...)
• SHALLOW (very superficial and lacking serious substance!)

I was saddened that I had those first feelings, and could not find anything nice to say about this person right away.  I have been struggling with it, and super tweaked at letting a stupid email be on my thoughts for this long.

I guess I need to examine why I have these feelings (I believe they are clear as to why I have them from my perspective) and then secondly, what to do about them?  Do I let them go? Do I try to explain them? Do I address them with this person?

Even my DH was surprised that I could not come up with positive characteristics...i am almost always the optimist or positive one in the family!

We'll see what happens....

6.9.08 Leaves of three, let it be...have you ever heard this saying before?

I have, several years ago and I applied it to gardening this year, however, once I did see the little plants with their leaves of three, it was too late!  Poison Ivy.

  This is a picture of poison ivy.  can you see what is meant by the "leaves of three"? 

Even though my exposure was minimal, once I saw those leaves staring up at me from under my ground cover, I stopped and got out of the garden, but it was too late!  I ended up with the itchy, red, yucky rash, and to make matters worse, it is over 90 degrees here, our A/C is not working, so I have to deal with prickly heat...I made my DH skip dinner last night so that we could go see a movie and sit in a cool theater for a couple of hours, just to keep the itching at bay!

There are some common myths to poision ivy, and I figured it would not hurt to give a little informational seminar in this forum.

Another photo, courtesy of www.altnature.com (click there for more information and pictures of poison ivy)

Here are some FACTS about poison ivy...

Urushiol is the oil, that is found in ALL parts of the poison ivy plant, stems, berries, leaves, roots--everything.

Once the urushiol makes contact with your skin/clothing, etc. it forms a chemical bond, within 10-15 minutes that can ONLY be removed with alcohol, ether, brown soap (lye), Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Oil Soap (I use this), and even Dawn dishwashing liquid (a Doctor recommended this one and it does work). Some also recommend a product called Technu, which they claim takes away the oils (my DH has used this before, and says it works for him). Urushiol is dervived from a Japanese word, meaning lacquer, so you know this oil bonds to whatever it comes in contact with! I highly recommend the Dr. Bronner soap products, we have used most of their line and we love them. www.drbronners.com

Urushiol is also found in the shell of the cashew and in the sap of the mango tree. (stay away from those too!)

Urushiol can be potently active for 10-15 days, where it can remain on shoes, clothing, skin, pets fur, tools, etc. if not thoroughly cleaned, and the oil has been found to be active upto 15 years (i.e. dry leaves in a compost pile), so don't toss in your compost heap! CLEAN EVERYTHING THAT YOU KNOW COMES IN CONTACT WITH THE PLANT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, PREFERABLY WITHIN 15 MINUTES OF CONTACT. (you will have a better chance of no rash if you do so.)

I do give my dog Riley a bath using the Peppermint Oil soap if I know he has been in the garden, so that he is not a carrier of the oil on his fur. Animals are immune to the reactive properties in the oil, so they do not break out like humans do.

Poison Ivy is most notably green, however its leaves do change with the seasons...it can be brownish (winter), reddish (fall), dark green (summer) and light green (spring). and its berries are green.

You can get poison ivy at any time of the year...even in the winter!

THERE IS NO CURE FOR POISON IVY...you need to ride out the effects.  I wash several times a day with Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Oil Soap which was recommended by our local natural market, and while it does not make it go away, the soap thoroughly cleans the affected areas, as well as cools the skin and minimizes the itching. (I have a hard time taking the antihistamine products such a Bendryl).  I also dab a little of this liquid soap on the itchy areas, gently rubbing the soap in, letting it dry (it is not sticky or heavy) which keeps the itching at bay for hours. Calmine lotion, Technu, baking soda, over the counter creams, steriods, and other home remedies will help to aleviate the symptoms, however do not cure the rash. I actually took Benedryl for the first time in probably 6 years last night, it was so humid and I was waking up itching every night, so I took some, and slept the entire night through...i did have a hard time waking up this morning though...so you have to seriously weigh the effects of the remedy.

 

Taking Vitamin C helps to speed up the healing of the blisters and sores.

Obviously, many of these products must be used with caution, I would wash my face with the peppermint oil soap, however would avoid my eyes with it!  I have found that wet tea bags, (brown or black tea, not green) are excellent at aleviating the symptoms of itching and swelling around the eyes because of the tannins in the tea.  they also work on the other affected areas, however it is hard to hold a bunch of teabags all over your body! 

It usually takes 10-14 days for the affects of poison ivy to subside, however it has been known to take up to 5 weeks. I am currently on day 8 from exposure.

Poison Ivy is NOT contagious!  Really!  If you have the urushiol oils on your person or your clothing, you can transfer it that way, however you cannot transfer poison ivy by touching someone's rash (again, unless the oil is still there, meaning you probably have not washed properly!) YUK!

BIG HUGE MYTH...the blisters that some get with poison ivy are not filled with the poison or the urushiol oil !  They are little sacs filled with water, puss, body fluids, nothing more. These "blisters" can get infected, so wash constantly. If the area becomes infected (sore, red, oozing something other that watery clear liquid, see a doctor, as you may need an antibiotic at that point.)

You can get poison ivy, in a much more severe form, if someone is burning it or mulching it, where you would inhale the fumes. Quite often, a doctor will prescribe some sort of steriod to aleviate the symptoms, and antihistamine to keep the airway swelling down.

Anyway...I hope you learned something...I am off to wash again, for the 20th time today!  I cannot wait for this humidity to finally break!